IFC Provides Partial Credit Guarantee to Buffalo City
Municipality in South Africa

Johannesburg, February 22, 2006 — The
International Finance Corporation, the private sector arm of the World
Bank Group, signed an agreement to provide a partial credit guarantee to
Buffalo City Municipality for the equivalent of up to US$6.8 million. The
guarantee will replace the existing security for a series of loans with
a total outstanding amount equivalent to $47 million and will free up resources
for immediate use by the city for essential infrastructure investments.

This transaction was arranged through the Municipal Fund, a joint IFC-World
Bank initiative. IFC’s guarantee will replace zero-coupon bonds with a
market value of approximately $7.8 million as the security for four loans
by the Development Bank of Southern Africa (DBSA) to Buffalo City.

Vincent Gouarne, head of the Municipal Fund, said, "This transaction
will help improve service delivery in Buffalo City. It is innovative in
that it will help move the market toward instruments that rely more on
the underlying credit quality.”

The proceeds from the sale of the zero-coupon bonds will be used to support
investments in water and wastewater, electricity, and roads. The
Buffalo City mayor, Sindisile Maclean, observed, “The IFC interaction
with Buffalo City demonstrates for us a major show of confidence in an
emerging city through innovative financing, enabling us to face the many
challenges of developing municipalities. I would like to encourage more innovative
ways of helping us become one of the leading secondary cities in Africa.”

Buffalo City, a municipality of 880,000 people, is located in the Eastern
Cape Province of South Africa and was established during the demarcation
process of 2001 by amalgamation of several areas.

Richard Ranken, IFC’s director for Sub-Saharan Africa, said, “Following
its first municipal transaction with the City of Johannesburg, IFC has
demonstrated its broad commitment to the subnational sector in South Africa
by also working with the next tier of municipalities and helping them increased
their use of market-based resources for financing investment needs.”

Luther Mashaba, DBSA’s executive manager for South Africa operations,
noted that “the DBSA’s long-standing relationship and partnership with
Buffalo City is rooted in the many years of DBSA’s financial support and
technical assistance to this municipality. During the difficult periods
in which the municipal market was less attractive to private sector, very
few financial instruments were readily available to service that market.
The DBSA is pleased that IFC has made available these guarantees
to mitigate risks for local government clients and to assist them in accessing
loan funding. The DBSA is also excited by the fact that it can release
these securities so that Buffalo City is able to respond to its community
needs without having to take up additional loan funding for the capital
program.”About the Municipal FundThe Municipal Fund is an initiative of the
World Bank Group’s International Finance Corporation. It provides
subnational clients – states, municipalities, and municipally controlled
institutions – with direct financing and access to capital markets, without
relying on sovereign guarantees. For more information, visit http://www.ifc.org/municipalfund.

About IFCThe International Finance Corporation is
the private sector arm of the World Bank Group and is headquartered in
Washington, D.C. IFC coordinates its activities with the other institutions
of the World Bank Group but is legally and financially independent. Its
178 member countries provide its share capital and collectively determine
its policies.

The mission of IFC is to promote sustainable
private sector investment in developing and transition countries, helping
to reduce poverty and improve people’s lives. IFC finances private sector
investments in the developing world, mobilizes capital in the international
financial markets, helps clients improve social and environmental sustainability,
and provides technical assistance and advice to governments and businesses.

From its founding in 1956 through FY05, IFC
has committed more than $49 billion of its own funds and arranged $24 billion
in syndications for 3,319 companies in 140 developing countries. IFC’s
worldwide committed portfolio as of FY05 was $19.3 billion for its own
account and $5.3 billion held for participants in loan syndications.

The IFC: celebrating
50 years in 2006 as a proud member of the World Bank GroupFor more information, visit www.ifc.org